I’ve finally decided I’m going to use Linux as my primary platform for internet use (email, web browsing, etc.), office applications and basically everything besides games. Whilst I’ve had a box with Fedora Core 2 installed on it for the past three or four months, I haven’t really used it in anger. However, with the recent additions to Windows XP of things like DRM, the continuing problem of security holes and the inherant security flaw of logging in with administrator rights, I figure it’s time to change platforms. Hopefully, after the next few weeks of transition, I’ll only be using my Windows box for games. We’ll see.

Another fine evening spent in a sports hall running around an air-filled leather ball! I think my level of fitness is stabilising, as I managed to run around, pretty much, for the whole game. I had a few shots at goal but didn’t score any. The side I was on still won though, so not a complete disaster.

This morning we came across the part of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus talks about the prayer of someone who trusts him. From what he says we can garner a few points:

1. If we trust Christ, then God is our Father. Our approach should be as one who is a child of God:
   1. We can approach readily, he should be our first resort. No matter how large, or how small our reasons for prayer.
   2. We should approach reverently, as we are approaching the Almighty God, who made everything, and who is thrice holy.
   3. We should approach regularly, just as one would communicate with one’s earthly father regularly, so we can communicate with our heavenly Father regularly.

2. We should ask him for all things, from the greatest spiritual needs, to the smallest physical needs. He is the provider of all things.
3. We should be willing to accept the answer God gives us. What we want isn’t necessarily what we need. Even what we think we need isn’t what we truly need. God will give us what we really need.

Whew what a warm day! I guess technically it’s still Summer and it’s only just started September, but I guess this makes up for the rather poor Summer we’ve had so far. A rather scorching 27°C (or possibly higher!)
What better way to spend such a glorious day than on the North Downs? A very pleasant day was spent wandering around Box Hill, taking photos of all and sundry, having a picnic lunch in a warm sunny field and taking in the clear fresh air. I must say, I had expected rain for this ramble and had applied copious amounts of dubbing to my boots to restore their waterproof characteristics, so I was pleasantly surprised by todays rather clement weather. They say a picture speaks a thousand words, so I’ll stop talking about it here � There’s a proverbial set of encyclopaedia in my photo album.

I spent most of this evening attempting to fix Robin’s computer. Why oh why is Windows ME so rubbish?! I’ve a good mind to wipe it and put Linux on it…

I think this week I’ve taken the term “Burning the candle at both ends” to a new level. I’m not sure there’s much left of the candle to burn! I think I’ve been out every night this week and I’m shattered! Went round Sarah’s this evening with a few others and watched The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King on DVD. Ironically, I think this is the first time I’ve managed to see the whole film without falling asleep, but I think that was because one could get up wander around, get a drink, make comments about the film, make completely random comments and generally find something else to do during the slow moments of the film! Maybe I’m just a Philistine or something, the LoTR is a great trilogy of films and a magnificent achievement, but just a little too long!

“And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.
And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.”

Phew, the past couple of days have been rather busy! Spent yesterday evening at Nige’s, with a few others, watching Catch me if you can, with Tom Hanks which was actually quite good. Based on a true story, it told of a boy (Frank Abagnale Jr.) who managed to defraud the banks of millions of dollars, with the FBI, represented by Carl Hanratty (Hanks), in pursuit, and eventually catching him. Some of the things Abagnale managed to achieve were quite amazing!

Spent this evening ten-pin bowling with the usual suspects, although the outcome was far from usual! Usually Karen beats us all to a pulp with a relentless merciless campaign. Not sure what happened, but I came top of the pile. Ah well, glory in it while I can. 🙂

Of course all this excitement isn’t helping me to get back into the swing of work after my holidays! I’m still finding it difficult to concentrate. Roll on Autumn, at least I won’t be distracted by good weather for much longer.

Spent August Bank Holiday down at West Wittering with old friends and new friends from churches across London. Although the appointed starting time was rather early, at a rather unpalatable 10am, we got down there at around 11am, which seemed a little more palatable. During the course of the day, I got to chat with friends, both old and new, whilst consuming lunch, playing boules, volleyball and various other things whilst on the beach. (Although, not necessarily all at the same time!) The weather remained dry throughout the day, as well as having some very fine periods. A thoroughly enjoyable day, if not slightly exhausting!

In John 15, Jesus is saying what the hallmarks of a Christian are.

1. We should love God, not in a sentimental shallow way but showing this love by doing what he commands. By being committed to doing his will.
2. We should love others as Jesus loves us:

   1. We should be self-sacrificing, putting other before ourselves, “Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus put us first when he went to the cross, if we are to imiate him, we should put others first.
   2. We should be providing for the needs of others.
   3. We should be purposeful in our love, not being do-gooders and getting in the way, but being truly useful.

Only by doing these things, by putting God and others first, can a person have real joy.

Saw I-Robot this evening, what a cool film. It presented the usual philosophical sci-fi questions, questions such as, “What is life?” “What is the soul?” “What is free will?”, but also came up with some interesting unusual questions such as, “Are humans fit to exercise dominion over creation, including themselves?”
It certainly had enough to keep the intellect busy and combined with faultless special effects this film is one of the best this year. Well worth seeing.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, the three laws of robotics, according to Isaac Asimov, are:

1. A robot may not harm a human or, by inaction, allow a human being to come to harm
2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the first law
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second law

Went to Halfords this afternoon to get a new headlamp bulb for the car, as the previous one had ceased functioning (looked like the filament had gone). After finding the bulb section and scanning through them, I came across a bulb suitable for the car. I picked one up and looked at the price – £18.99(!) For a moment I thought I’d picked the wrong bulb, as it wasn’t one of those blue lights or anything but sure enough, when I took it to the till, the cashier confirmed the price. At least both headlamps are functioning properly again…

Spent the evening at the church for the final meeting of this year’s Holiday Bible Club – the family evening. I was amazed by how many children there were, accompanied by their parents, and the vast amount of excitement and enthusiasm which filled the air. Throughout the evening, the parents were told what their children had been up to over the past week, including what they had been taught from the Bible, what games they’d played and what crafts they’d taken part in. From my perspective of an outsider just there for the evening, it sounded like they had a very fun week and had learnt a lot at the same time. Well done to all who took part and helped out. Ah well, I stuck around afterwards to clear up and the church building now looks like the holiday club had never happened, with all the chairs back in formation for the Sunday service, all the bunting and banners packed away for another year and all the crumbs and crisp fragments swept up.

Q: Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?
A: God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.

(Question XX from the Westminster Shorter Catechism)

Finally decided to install SP2 on my Windows XP box. I must admit to wondering what might happen, given the news coverage it had received, with reports that several major applications ceased to function once SP2 had been installed. I guess it wouldn’t sound so bad if these applications were old and obsolete, but a few in Microsoft’s list were mainstream applications, with one or two even published by M$ themselves! Anyway, I figured I really only use my XP box for games, so I went ahead. After waiting a while for 79MB to download and install, I watched intently as my machine rebooted, with messages such as “Please wait” popping up periodically until, finally, the familiar log in prompt appeared and everything looked just as it did before the install. All seemed to be painless until I started clicking on web links – for some reason, the computer had returned to producing a click sound every time I followed a web link! After rummaging around the “Control Panel” for a good ten minutes, I finally disabled it. Other than that, so far so good…

These days, I actually seem to enjoy these Monday evenings running around the five-a-side football pitch. Gone is the painful wheezing, the severe disorientation and general symptoms of being unfit, and I actually appear to be able to play the game with some degree of competence. Now this isn’t to say I’ve suddenly become good, but I’m better than I was. 🙂 Only a couple more weeks and then I get to sit in a piano stool once more, slowly but surely becoming unfit again. Maybe I should take up something to maintain a reasonable level of fitness?

The apostle Paul likens the living the Christian life to running a race. In his analogy are three main points:
1.Direction. Just as an athlete runs towards a goal, rather than running aimlessly, a Christian should aim for the prize set before him by God, rather than aiming at nothing.
2.Drive.An athlete needs to be determined to not only complete the race, but to prepare for it. Before we become Christians, we are unable to be motivated to do the will of God, but by faith, God’s grace by his Spirit gives us the power to do his will and to work through our salvation.
3.Discipline. You can’t just turn up for a race and hope that trying hard will enable you to win. An athlete needs to undergo regular, disciplined, training in order to be able to win. Similarly, to live the Christian life, a Christian needs to mature, by regularly communicating with God through prayer and his word, and by learning from trials.